August born starting school sept 2015

[BingBong36]

My Ds is starting school in September 2015 and I am feeling increasingly anxious about how he will cope and the stigma attached to summer children falling behind.

How did your summer borns get on at school and how can I help him prepare? He is at a very good preschool and I am teaching him all of his letters which is going well. Anything else?

I know reception is playbased and tbh I'm more concerned about year 1 onwards....

Thanks

[Pikkewyn]

My end of August baby is now in yr 2 and is finally catching up. She was reading and knew numbers etc when she started school but that wasn't her struggle, she has done and still does struggle emotionally and occasionally socially, the older girls have started moving on from certain tv programmes/music/toys that she still really loves and she finds it hard to know where stands.

[agnesnott]

Mine is doing her gcse s. She is doin really well. She needed more time to find her feet in primary so try not to worry. She is always the youngest in the year but is in all top groups and very sociable. Don't get too bogged down in comparison s at primary stage it evens out later.
My eldest was a summer born too and she is a grown up professional now.

[rosiepinkcheeks]

Try not to worry. I have an August born DS. He is now in year 4. He keeps up with (and is better than some of his classmates who are almost a year older). There have been some maturity issues for him but that has improved. I also have DD who is the eldest in her class and that brings pressure that she should be top at every subject. I remember she had an August born friend who was sharp as a pin, mature etc. All kids are different and so is their development. If he is doing well at preschool I am sure he will do well at school. Just catch up with his teacher regularly when he is settled at school.

[BingBong36]

Thanks all. Luckily he is confident and has an older brother in the school so knows people already, it's more learning I am worried about as well as getting tired, etc... They allow part time until jan but my husband feels we should send him full time so he doesn't miss out but I am not comfortable with this as I do not think he would cope.

[BingBong36]

Th

[BingBong36]

Thanks everyone for reassuring me x

[IAmDeids]

DD is August born. Now in year 4. Other than maturity issues she has been fine. Academically she has always been in the top sets for things. He will be fine

[LeonardoAcropolis]

I think now just make sure that he can get dressed, use the toilet by himself and wash his hands, take his shoes on and off, tnings like that. The school will teach him letters and numbers As you say, he is very good at preschool and the foundation stage uses the same curriculum.

My DS, now year 2, is an August baby and has always done well at school. He's not in the top group (but then neither are a lot of winter borns) but he has managed very nicely, he was reading and writing very quickly and has always enjoyed going to school. He is in a class with many summer borns, chances are that your ds will be, and his teaches have always reassured me that they will not let the youngest struggle.

The transition from foundation to year one was made as smooth as possible, he started year 1 still play-based and then that was gent, y eased off over the first half term.

Please try not to be anxious, although I fully understand thats easier said than done, you are clearly turned onto his educational needs. Your ds will most likely be fine. Will he be going to school with his friends? Will you be meeting his teacher and head teacher before he starts? Speaking with them should put your mind at rest, it did for me!

Oh and stigma of being a summer born? boo! to that I say! The statistics do show that they fall behind but, depending which stastistic you are looking at, the margin is quite small on one of them (can't link, this is something I saw years ago). I think it is Mrz on here that expects the statistics to be more favourable in a few years time when they take into account the summerborns that start foundation in September, rather than being admitted after Easter, which used to happen. Please correct me if I am wrong.

[mrz]

There is no stigma to being a summer born teachers regard each as an individual. I've taught many August born children who outshone their Autumn born peers right from the first day in reception. Being the eldest does guarantee being most mature or more knowledgable

[rosiepinkcheeks]

I agree with your DH - send him in full time.

[BingBong36]

Thanks everyone I appreciate your replies!!!

Luckily he has a few friends from preschool who will be in his year, right now he just seems so little

[DazzleU]

All mine are summer born and some of the youngest in their year.

The older two have had problems - but I think that has been down more to school's mixed method teaching reading, relying on spelling tests to "teach" spelling and a bizarre approach to maths and who they are.

The older two had accidents in reception - DD1 was lucky very experienced reception teacher never made an issue of it - and she had a happy year.

DS was not so lucky - huge class 34 teacher come done from older DC - parental grape vine purported after many parental complaints but who knows - he had accidents and was left soiled till pick ups. He was well behaved and quiet for most of year then dramatically stop being so having worked out he get noticed if he wasn't - our parenting was blame .

When he struggled with phonics - he had intermittent hearing problem - it was blamed on him being a young summer born - everything he struggled with was blamed on that. Parent/teacher meetings left impression she didn't have a clue who our DS was.


Before end of reception we started doing phonics work at home - start of year 1 maths at home - and later spellings and handwriting. His next two teachers have been great and while he started in bottom groups over the years he's he's now top groups for everything - though we have had to work over those years on him thinking he was stupid and reading and maths weren't for him .

Upshot - don't assume there will be problems but if your DC does struggle don't assume that means they always will.

My eldest is literally days before cut off date - she was very tired but she managed full school days from the first day- their school isn't keen on pt starters - and would have missed out on a lot if she hadn't started full time.

[GutsyMcMuffin]

My dd1 is an August birthday, she went straight into reception full time and never looked back. She was always somewhere in the Middle ability wise at primary school, but came into her own in year six. She's doing GCSEs this year, is predicted A*'s in all subjects which she might we'll get based on her mocks. It's true that they all even out in the end.

[Meita]

DS is August born, is the youngest in his older-than-average reception class. You know how they say 'your child won't be going to school with 29 kids who are nearly a year older than him' - well it's not all 29 other kids obviously, but in his particular class there were 10 who turned five before the second half of the first term started... and now there are 20 who are 5+ whereas DS is still only 'nearly fourandahalf' (as he informs us frequently).

Academically, he is doing really well. No worries whatsoever. If anything, he isn't being challenged enough, because there is hardly any differentiation - they are being taught to the 'average' and he is beyond that. I don't mind, as I feel that at that young age, school shouldn't be about being challenged all the time. He is having fun and playing and learning/making progress.

Socially and emotionally, is a more complex story. He began wetting himself because he didn't understand the implicit rules (e.g. 'yes actually it is preferable for you to disrupt carpet time by asking to go to the toilet, than to disrupt carpet time by peeing on the carpet'). He was extraordinarily tired. Lots of what happens socially in his class, e.g. friendship hierarchy competitiveness, goes totally over his head, and left him quite friendless initially (until he found a fellow loner to team up with). He was sad and felt left out and didn't understand why some of the other children were unkind to him. Being very keen to join in, he began copying the older children's behaviour, without understanding. E.g. name calling; thinking it was just something funny; then being totally bewildered when being told off. Some of the other children are into things e.g. Star Wars that DS IMO is to young for, but DS desperately wants to join in and has a double struggle as he a) doesn't know what they are talking about and b) even when he does 'know', he doesn't 'understand'.
At the same time he found settling in easier than many of the older children, some of whom still cry and cling to their parents at drop-off time, whereas he skips in with a smile on his face.

Perhaps he didn't get as much support from the teachers/TAs than he might have, because he is so confident and academically on top of things; so it is easy to 'forget' that he was only just 4.

My 'advice' would be to focus on social confidence - things like asking for help, indicating preferences, and letting people know when he is unhappy or confused.

[DazzleU]

I still say DS overall enjoyed reception - as it was play based and he got on with other DC he just didn't make progresses and his teacher wasn't the best.

[fuctifino]

Both of mine are youngest in their year. Academically, they are both doing great, the August born is identified as gifted and talented (for what it's worth).
Both of them seemed to lack maturity in their own way. The August born struggled with friendship initially, the teacher noticed that she seemed happy playing/being on her own.
I always thought the July born was young for her years but now she's in year 8, I think she's naturally giddy, not necessarily childish.
I would say both of them have come into their own as they've progressed through school.

[AuditAngel]

DS (now 10) is an August born. Socially he was happy with the transition to Reception, having been in full time nursery since he was a year old.

He wasn't ready to sit down and learn, but his school understood that.

He had a few accidents, the school just ask for pants and socks to be kept in a carrier bag in their PE bag, and they get sent home in their jogging bottoms.

Our biggest problem was that DS was so small, the children in his class kept carrying him around

[MrsJuice]

Try not to worry!
DD1 is late August birthday. She was distinctly 'average' until year 6, and now she is flying at secondary school!
They do catch up, it just seems so unfair that you are sending your little one to school when they are only just 4.

A lot depends upon the child. My DD2 was an earlier birthday, and didn't seem to find it easier.

[fatowl]

My August baby is now doing A-levels, having done better at her GCSEs than her November born older sister.
Don't assume he'll struggle - he may well be fine!

and there is no stigma- he will be with a huge mix of abilities, regardless of the month they were born

[foursquare]

There's no stigma for summer-born...

My DD is also August-born and she's on par with (or ahead of) others - academically speaking. She's sociable and pretty popular, very different than me (I was a very reserved child, August born as well, but did very well academically). She's now in Yr 2 and thriving even though we've just changed schools before October half term.

The only 'problem' I have is that she seems to be losing her stuff at school more often than other kids, even though it's all labelled... but I'm not sure that's due to her being summer-born :-)

[BingBong36]

Thank you for taking the time to response and reassure me, it is so nice knowing that just because he is august born doesn't necessarily mean boittom if the class!

[JoandMax]

My eldest is July and the youngest in his class, now in Year 2.

As so many of the others have replied academically he is doing great and no problem keeping up in that respect. He was probably a bit slower to pick up reading/writing in reception but in Year 1 progressed massively.

The only issues we have had is socially but I would say it worried me more than him! For a lot of reception/first half of Year 1 he didn't really 'get' how to make friends or understand the competitiveness, hierarchies but his teacher kept a close eye on him and he was always happy if a little bemused! Towards the end of last year he suddenly grew up and started to ask for toys/TV programs he heard the other boys talking about and once he could join in he was absolutely fine. He's now got great friends and is really happy and thriving at school.

[wandymum]

My DD's birthday is the end of August. She was slightly prem too so should actually have been October.

I was worried too about how she'd cope at school but it has been completely fine. She's in YR 1 now and is at the upper end of the range of abilities in her class. She's made loads of friends and loves school.

[footallsock]

Key things to help him - dressing and undressing, putting shoes on, coat, gloves. Toileting. Asking for help. Independance. Nothing else really

[TalkinPeace]

My late August born DS grunts a lot, gets really muddy at school rugby, seems to enjoy the place, is in top sets and predicted a sheaf of great GCSEs and hates being hugged when he gets home
But that is Year 10s for you

The less you assume there is a stigma
the less there will be